Th. Abt / W. Madelung / Th. Hofmeier

Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum Vol. I

Book of the Explanation of the Symbols Kitab Hall ar-Rumuz by Muhammad Ibn Umail

The Corpus Arabicum Alchymicum (CALA) will be editing and publishing a collection of key manuscripts on symbolic Arabic alchemy. The Arabic text is always accompanied by a parallel English translation. In order to improve the understanding of the spiritual side of alchemy, each edited volume is followed by one or more commentaries.

Volume I of CALA presents the first edition of Hall ar-Rumuz (Explanation of the Symbols). It was written by Muhammad Ibn Umail (10th century), one of the most important representatives of the symbolic branch of alchemy. In later Latin alchemy he is known under the name, Senior.

Ibn Umail’s description of the alchemical work is a symbolic rendering of his experience of an inner-psychic process of transformation that he considered as being the highest goal in human life. Due to his extremely introverted lifestyle and his devoted focus toward the inner world, Ibn Umail was able to observe and describe this mysterious process with the "substantial symbols", emerging out of the depth of his psyche.

Ibn Umail’s symbolic attitude facilitates a kind of inter-confessionalism: he states in Hall ar-Rumuz that "the result of the alchemical work can be produced by a person from any religion". The psychic transformation achieved by the work leads to the stone, a symbol for the solidified divine kernel of an individual. This center also has a collective dimension. Thus Ibn Umail also names the stone "mosque" or "temple".

His work connects and bridges the Ancient Egyptian quest for immortality directly with later Latin alchemy and the modern depth psychology of C.G. Jung with its aim of creating spiritual gold: consciousness. Ibn Umail’s work thus constitutes an important cultural link in the history of the spiritual aspect of alchemy.

Theodor Abt (1947), born in Zurich, Switzerland; Ph.D. from the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich 1977, 1973-79 project leader of overall regional development concepts for two Swiss mountain regions. Since 1975 Jungian Analyst in private practice. 1983-88 member of the board of the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich. Since 1990 Professor for Rural Sociology at the ETH. Since 1995, member of the board of the Research and Training Centre for Depthpsychology according to C.G. Jung and M.-L. von Franz, Zurich. Since 1988, President of the Society of the Friends of the Royal Tombs of Egypt. His research focuses on the relationship of the outer world with the needs of the inner unconscious world. Together wird Wilferd Madelung he is editor of the Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA) series. Of his publications in German is available in English: Progress without Loss of Soul, 1990 and Dark Clouds over Europe, 2014.